Seattle at RAYS 12:40; NO TV RAYS RADIO/1250 AM

Pitching Matchup:

RH Miguel Batista, Seattle-In looking over Batista's bio pages on the Internets prior to today's game, I noticed something. Batista is 37 years old. I always thought Batista was far younger; he certainly seemed very young the first time I saw him with the Diamondbacks in the 2001 World Series. Regardless, when you look over Batista's track record, you see a long career full of generally average results. Batista was never flashy enough to garner much attention over the course of his career, but he has proven to be a versatile and steady pitcher over the years. In his long career, Batista has been a starting pitcher on a World Championship team, a 30-save closer, an all-purpose relief pitcher, and now he is back to being a starting pitcher with Seattle. Batista is probably one of the best bets among AL starters to turn in a mediocre season. In that respect, he is very similar to last night's starter Jarrod Washburn. In fact, the two threw almost the exact same number of innings and pitches per inning for a nearly identical ERA last year. With seven straight seasons of having posted an ERA+ over 100, Batista has proven to be respectable for what he is. His ERA+ exceeded 109 only twice during those seven seasons, but even as he enters into old age, his steady services and proven durability continue to be desired assets.

Career Stats

2008 Game Log

Career Splits

2007 Splits

RAYS vs Batista

RH Edwin Jackson, RAYS-It seems like since the Rays acquired Edwin Jackson over two years ago, Mariners GM Bill Bavasi has been linked to trade rumors involving the pride of Neu-ulm. These rumors reached a crescendo this off-season around the Winter Meetings when the talk was of Jackson going to Seattle for 1B Ben Broussard. As it happened, the trade didn't go down and Broussard was traded by Seattle to the Texas Rangers later that off-season. So here we are in April as Jackson prepares to make his second start of the season. Is there any reason to think that Bavasi's interest in Jackson has waned? Probably not, although since an avalanche of injuries has befallen the Rays' rotation, the chances of Jackson being traded are probably smaller due to the lack of flexibility the front office has concerning a replacement. My position on Edwin  Jackson is well-known. If we could get a halfway decent deal for the power right-hander, I'd personally take Jackson's luggage to the Mariners' charter plane as it leaves down today and bid bon voyage. Alas, it doesn't appear that will be happening, and the latest injury to Matt Garza probably means that Jackson isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

So with that reality firmly in mind, let's evaluate what we have. We all know the story of Jackson's track record. "Electric stuff". Poor walk rates. High WHIPs. High ERAs. Failure in the Major Leagues and Minor Leagues both over the last four seasons. If I could take back the time I took to harp on Jackson's shortcomings over the last two years, I could probably write my own novel. It isn't that I have anything against Jackson personally; quite the opposite. He seems like a very likable individual who seems to be among the most popular on the team. But I'm just not buying Saturday's start in New York as the beginning of a legitimate turnaround to Jackson's troubled major league career.

There is no doubting the quality of the performance that Jackson turned in at Yankee Stadium: I'll take six innings of one run baseball in the Bronx any day of the week I can get it. The fact of the matter is that Jackson gave the Rays a chance to win by battling and providing stability. His walks were few, his strikeouts were plenty, and it was easy to look at Edwin Jackson circa 2008 as an entirely new model. I hope for his sake, and the team's as well, that it is. Nothing would please me more than to see a good guy such as Jackson find success. However, one of the things constantly MIA in Jackson's volatile 2007 was consistency. He could not string together quality outings consecutively for the vast majority of the season, sans a period in August. If Jackson's start in New York is to mean anything in the grand scheme of things, it needs to be followed up by a similarly satisfying outing. He has the ability, as evidenced by his holding harmless the Yankees' vaunted lineup. Whether that ability will reach fruition is the question, and it is one that needs a satisfactory reply in the affirmative. Otherwise, the Mariners may want to hold that charter for one more passenger.

Career Stats

2008 Game Log

Career Splits

2007 Splits

Seattle vs Jackson

Starting Lineups:

GO RAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you've never stumbled across Lookout Landing, then you simply fail at life. Jeff Sullivan, Graham, Gomez, Devin, and Matt Carruth combine to form the best SBN blog, baseball or otherwise. Luckily enough the Mariners series came quickly so we could do this thing.

During the off-season the Mariners acquired Erik Bedard for Adam Jones, amongst others, and the Rays traded in part Delmon Young for Matt Garza. Of the four players involved, in what order would you preference to have for the next 10 seasons?

Ignoring contracts and all that, I'd probably say (1) Jones, (2) Bedard, (3) Young, and (4) Garza. Bedard's obviously the best player of the four right now, but he's a 29 year old pitcher with an injury history, so he's unlikely to last for another decade. Jones, meanwhile, is young, plays good defense, and has just eaten up the minor leagues. He seems like a solid bet to be a plus player for a long, long time. I like Young, but he hasn't yet proven himself in the field or at the plate, so he's #3 until some of those tools turn into performance. And Garza's bringing up the rear because he's the worst of four guys with all kinds of talent. I'd like to see him start lowering that contact rate. God knows he has the stuff.

John McLaren was the bench coach here for three seasons and nearly took over as manager, instead Joe Maddon got the job and the rest is present state matters. Other than the obvious -- a la every team's fans thinking the manager is a moron -- what are your impressions of McLaren's tendencies and aptitude?

McLaren's your typical old school manager who loves veterans, labels, and talking about aggressive baserunning. He's not one to understand roster flexibility or scenarios in which talent should override designated roles. The only thing that really distinguishes him from 95% of the rest of the managers in the league is that, despite claiming that he has the occasional mean streak, he comes off as a bit of a girl. Or, to borrow from JD, a sensi.

Bill Bavasi is, without doubt, looked upon as one of the most astute and opportunistic general managers in the league, pulling off grand deals like Rafael Soriano for Horacio Ramirez. He’s great, isn’t he?

Bill Bavasi's track record would be nearly spotless if you could take out all his moves and replace them with other moves.

What’s the general feeling on Felix Hernandez’ chances of staying healthy for the long haul?

Generally speaking, I think people try not to think about it too much. I mean, we all get that young pitchers are fragile and that Felix is perhaps doubly so, what with his emphatic mechanics (I should do rap), but as Mariner fans we've invested so much in Felix as our Next Great Hope that we can't really bear to talk about the risks. It's sort of an unspoken understanding, I guess. We know that Felix has a bunch of red flags, but as long as he's pitching, we look forward to his next start in ignorant bliss.

This is why last year's injury was such a jolt. No one was thinking about it. We'd pushed our concerns so far into the backs of our minds that when they sprung back into the forefront, our heads got a rattle. For a few months there after he came back, it was eggshells.

To actually answer your question: the sentiment seems to be that his chances of staying healthy are good. Because they have to be. Because if he gets hurt, we won't know what to do with ourselves.

The Rays are currently pursuing a new waterfront stadium in Downtown St. Petersburg. Can you share any insight on how the Mariners' move to SAFECO Field improved the fortunes of that franchise?

I can't give you any financial figures, because I don't have access to that kind of information, but Safeco's been a huge boon for the franchise. It's a beautiful stadium that gives the Mariners something to be proud of, and as an experience rather than just a place to go for a baseball game, it's been able to sustain pretty good attendance figures despite a run of lousy team performance. The Mariners are a well-oiled money-making machine, and Safeco's a big reason why. Without it, we don't have as high a payroll, and we don't have much to attract potential players.

In 2004, the Mariners went 63-99 and ranked third in the AL in attendance. In 2005, they went 69-93 and ranked fourth. It's not hard to figure out why.

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